There are a whole lot of cop-and-dog movies, including Top Dog (with Chuck Norris), K-9 (with Jim Belushi), and even a made-for-TV movie called K-9000, with a robot dog. But Turner & Hooch is the silliest. Made when Tom Hanks had broken through with Splash and Big but still wasn’t yet a powerful enough star to turn down movies like this, it stars Hanks as a small-town cop who’s about to quit the force (because he wants to do more exciting police work in the big city). But then, a local is murdered, and the only possible witness is his giant, slobbery dog. (Hooch is played by Beasley, a Dogue de Bordeaux, or French Mastiff.)
Turner takes him in, and he proceeds to destroy the house and the car. At least the dog also gives him an excuse to court a cute veterinarian (played by Mare Winningham). Hanks is game to play up the uptight, neatnik aspects of Turner’s personality, and Beasley is more than willing to trash or drool on ever prop or piece of scenery he can get his paws on. (He also simulates drunkenness after he drinks beer – not an easy feat for a canine performer.) Maybe it’s good for every two-time Oscar-winning megastar to have a movie like this on his resume, so that he doesn’t get too swelled a head.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4RAg-iCSc0]